Stop Squatting With Thoracic Flexion - Leah Lutz

Just wanted to say this video reflects my exact experience with the ball rolling forward and sometimes screwing up my form doing my singles @ RPE 8. Really appreciate the detailed addressing of this problem; it immediately helped my lifting today.

2 Likes

I’ll second the value of this video/form adjustment. I developed bicep tendinitis late in the novice LP last fall, and this seems to have been the culprit.

Great video Leah!

An issue I’ve always had with thoracic flexion is that as soon as I implement it from the beginning (top of the squat), I get elbow/shoulder issues because the bar starts rolling down my back. (Yes I’ve read the articles and even saw an SSC). It’s just simply that the shelf isn’t enough to hold the bar on an almost vertical back.

Currently I have thoracic flexion at the top, but it’s fixed within the first third on the way down. I don’t actively try to fix it, I just keep my back tight and as soon as my hips start going back, it matches the angle of the top of my back. I never have the ball rolling forward issue.

Anyone else experience this?

I’ll third that! I find it hard to get the bar into the low-bar position on my back and often feel it riding up during my sets. I tried Leah’s tips today while doing tempo squats and it felt much better. The bar felt much more ‘locked’ into the correct place and didn’t ride up, even when doing sets of 10 rep tempo squats.

Thanks Leah!

P.S. Whoever invented the tempo squat is a sadist and should be punished! :wink:

It honestly sounds like you either have the bar slightly too low to start with and you work it into place as you go or you are setting up and walking out of the rack with more lumbar extension than you should have and as you go, you settle into a more normal anatomical back position.

And thanks for the feedback, All! I definitely appreciate it! With Alan’s encouragement to do more of these, I’ve got some more to make now.

5 Likes

Yes. Keep up the tips. I thought I was tight in the upper back but after today’s training I realized how much the tips and having the video fresh in my mind improved my session.